1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method of manufacturing a cutting tool having at least one cutting body, a base body of the cutting tool being moved during the manufacture of the cutting body, a substance containing particles of cutting material being deposited on a bearing surface of the moved base body, and the substance being melted on the bearing surface and united with the bearing surface while solidifying to form the cutting body; and to an apparatus for the manufacture of a cutting tool having at least one cut tiny body, comprising a drive which drives the base body in the direction of displacement; supply means depositing a substance containing the particles of cutting material on a bearing surface of the tool base body; and a heating device melting the substance on the bearing surface and uniting it with the bearing surface for the manufacture of the cutting body.
2. Background Art
For the manufacture of a cutting tool it has been known to make the cutting body of the tool from metal bonded diamond layers. This is put into practice for instance by powder metallurgy or by plating out metals on pre-deposited diamond particles. The cutting bodies thus fabricated are then united with a base body of a tool by soldering or laser beam welding. Drawbacks of these known methods reside in the complicated and costly manufacture of the cutting tool which is accompanied with correspondingly high labor costs.
A less expensive way of producing the cutting tool is put into practice by the aid of single-stage laser beam coating. In this manufacturing process, the layer containing cutting material or the cutting body, respectively, are produced in one single operation and united with the metallic base body of the tool. During this operation, the base body of the tool is moved horizontally, i.e. transversely to the direction of the force of gravity. A substance containing the cutting material, for instance diamond particles, is deposited on the surface of the moved tool base body that will bear the future cutting body. A heating device subjects the bearing surface to heat energy. This is where a molten bath is formed, to which the substance is fed and where it is melted. A drawback of this manufacturing process resides in the floating of the particles of cutting material in the molten bath against the force of gravity. As a result of the high specific density difference of the individual components of the substance, the particles of cutting material shift within the cutting body molten bath when the lifetime of this melt is too long during the manufacturing process. As a result, there is no uniform distribution of the particles of cutting material within the volume of the cutting body, which would be necessary for a continuous cutting quality to be obtained throughout the height of the cutting body. A concentration of cutting material results in the outer area of the cutting body that is turned away vertically from the bearing surface, while the portions of the cutting body that are turned towards the bearing surface contain virtually no cutting material. The floating of the cutting material and the irregular distribution thereof along the overall height of the cutting body can be partially suppressed in the case of cutting body geometries of up to approximately 2 mm of width and 3 mm of height by a reduction of the setting time; in the case of cutting body geometries of greater dimensions, the irregular distribution of the cutting material can, however, not be prevented by modification of parameters such as advance velocity of the base body of the tool or substance mass flow rate.